Dictionary.net

A kind of starch from the trunk of certain East Indian palms.

A pearly starch made from the pith of several species of palms, the sago-palms, Metroxylon Ioevis, M. rumphii, or Arenga saccharifera; the sago of commerce is often tapioca.

Starchy pith obtained from palm, furnishing nutritious food.

A dry starch produced from the pith of several palms in the E. India Islands, etc., used for food.

Kind of starch from the stem of certain palm-trees.

A farinaceous food from inner portions of various palms.

A starch obtained from the pith of several palms.

A kind of strach granulated, obtained form the pith of several species of palms.

A fecula, obtained from the pith of the Sagus rumphii, Cycas circinalis, C. revoluta, etc., growing in the Moluccas, Philippine Isles, etc., and which is brought to us in small grains. The same substance is, also, obtained from the West Indies, but it is inferior to that from the East. By boiling in water or milk, sago becomes soft and transparent, and forms an agreeable and nutritious food in febrile, calculous, and other disorders. It is made palatable by sugar, lemon-juice, or wine, where the last is not contra-indicated. To make sago into a proper mucilage for the sick, a tablespoonful of it should be macerated in a pint of water for two hours, and then boiled for fifteen minutes, stirring assiduously. Care must be taken, that the grains are perfectly dissolved by long boiling and constant stirring. Sago posset is made by putting sago into water, boiling until the mucilage is formed: then rubbing sugar on the rind of a lemon, and putting it with tincture of ginger into sherry, Oss; adding this mixture to the mucilage, and boiling for five minutes.-It is a good restorative.

Starch from pith of various palm-trees.

The starch meal obtained from the stem of Metroxylon Rumphii and Metroxylon leve (or of certain other palms, which, however, yield an inferior product), washed, reduced to grains, and heated till the surface becomes slightly glutinous.

n. [Malayan] A dry, granulated starch, imported from the East Indies—it is the prepared pith of several different palms- it is much used as an article of diet for the sick, and as starch for textile fabrics.